“Resume Assistant in Microsoft Word helps get your creative juices flowing by showing personalized insights from LinkedIn, based on the desired role you’re interested in.”

In addition to seeing experience and skill samples, you can check out helpful articles, tops skills for your position, and suggested jobs in your area.

Resume Assistant Availability

It’s important to note that Resume Assistant is only available in Word 2016 for Windows. And it will roll out slowly over time with Office Insider participants first and Office 365 subscribers next. If you believe that you should have it by now and do not, check to be sure you have the latest version of Word.

The Resume Assistant button should appear on your ribbon in the Review tab.

If you do see the button, but it’s dimmed and cannot be clicked, make sure to enable your LinkedIn integration. Click File > Options and the General tab. Under LinkedIn Features, select the check box for Show LinkedIn features in my Office applications and click OK.

Getting Started With the Resume Assistant

There are two ways to begin using the Resume Assistant. The first is obviously to click the button in your ribbon. The second is to open a current resume or resume template from within Word. The tool will automatically detect that you have opened a resume. Then, a sidebar for the tool will open for you to get started.

You can then click the Learn more link at the bottom which will take you to Microsoft Office support site. There, you can check out a brief video of the Resume Assistant. Or you can just click the Get started button in the sidebar to begin.

Next, you just enter a role (job title) and optionally an industry to view the examples. As you begin to type a role or industry, you will see suggestions pop up for you to pick from. After you make your selections, click See examples.

You can also filter the results by top skills. For instance, if you enter “writer” as the role, you can filter by copyrighting, blogging, or editing. Or if you enter “restaurant manager,” you can filter by assistant, general, or bar manager.

Some filters offer subcategories to narrow your results even further. For example, if you enter “programmer” for the role, you can filter by software, system, or web programmer. Then, if you pick one of those options, such as web programming, you can filter further with choices like PHP, HTML, or JavaScript.

When looking through the examples you receive, whether you narrow your results or not, you can see the job title and years in the position. Just select one to see the description in full using the Read more link which simply expands the section.

You cannot copy-and-paste or insert text from the samples. So, do not misunderstand this tool as a quick way to use another person’s resume pieces to create your own.

Additional LinkedIn Resources

In the sidebar, below your resume example results, you will notice a few additional helpful items. First, you can review the top skills for the role you enter. These are suggested skills that you should include on your resume if applicable.

Next, you can read LinkedIn articles related to resume writing. So, if you would like some extra tips on perfecting your resume, you might want to check these out. Clicking on one of the articles will take you directly to it on the LinkedIn website.

After that, you can view suggested jobs based on your role, industry, and location. You will see a snapshot with the position, company, location, and a brief job description. Just like the articles, selecting one of these positions will take you right to it on the LinkedIn site.

It’s important to note that if you have a public profile on LinkedIn, your skill descriptions may also be used by the Resume Assistant. If you would like to disable this option head to the LinkedIn website and log in.

Click Me > Settings & Privacy > Privacy. Scroll down to the Security section and under Microsoft Word, move the slider from Yes to No. Your change will be saved automatically.

Improve Your Resume Even Further

These days, almost any edge over the competition in a job search is something people welcome. And if it comes down to how well your resume is written to land you the perfect job, a tool like this might be just what you need.

With her BS in Information Technology, Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a Project Manager, Department Manager, and PMO Lead. She then decided to follow her dream and now writes about technology full-time.